What Can We Do When This World Steals Our Peace?

My dentist sent me to an Endodontics Specialist for a consultation. BTW — endodontics means dealing with the dental pulp AKA, in my case, a potential root canal. This was a new experience for me because my wonderful dentist in Tulsa was more than a general dentist — he performed all the “specialist” procedures also and he had done a couple of “pain-free” root canals on me before. This post isn’t to discuss the merits of general dentistry versus endodontics dentistry, but it’s to convey my naiveness in this crazy world we live in.

My general dentist here in Frisco is great. The bonus is when I go see her, she has the “Fixer Upper” show playing on the TV in the procedure room. My Tulsa dentist always had Christian music playing in the background, and to top it off, he was a beautiful witness for Christ in his conversation and demeanor.

Now, back to my “specialist” visit. Nice office. Kind staff. Easy check-in. Comfortable dental chair. Then, settled in, I heard a loud headbanger, hard-rock singer and music playing on their music system. Initially, I thought, “Are you kidding me? Do I have to listen to this?” Maybe I’m old school when music was selected by businesses that would have wide-audience appeal but maybe this place appeals to the hard-rock-music-loving-dentist and his equally passionate hard-rock-loving-patients. I’ll just suck it up go with the flow.”

Then, I looked at the magazine rack that faced me with a May 14th issue of New York magazine. The bold headlines said “My Date With a Sex Robot” with a ghastly photo. I’ll admit I am selective in where I go, what I do and who I am with. I’ve said it before, I say it again, there is nothing more important to me in my life than maintaining a state of peace. I live by St. Paul’s words in Philippians 4:8-11 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is fair, whatever is pure, whatever is acceptable, whatever is commendable, if there is anything of excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—keep thinking about these things. Likewise, keep practicing these things: what you have learned, received, heard, and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.” Did you hear that? “THEN, the God of peace will be with you.”

So, what do I do when THAT peace is interrupted. I stand firm in my convictions and do something about it. I couldn’t ignore it. The negativity was resounding in my ears AND in my eyes. I would have walked away or changed the channel if I could. But, I couldn’t. The dental assistant came into the room and I told her “I’ve never been to a dentist where I felt so uncomfortable. In fact, my dentist in Tulsa plays Christian music. I’m listening to hard rock music and I’m seeing a magazine cover that faces me that says “My Date With a Sex Robot!” She was quick to apologize and removed the magazine saying “I don’t know where that came from, and as for as the music goes, I put on Aerosmith this morning and didn’t realize the playlist would be like this. We usually have Christian music playing. I’ll change it!” Within seconds, I was taken back to my peace when I heard playing, “This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That You would take my place. That You would bear my cross. You lay down Your life. That I would be set free. Oh, Jesus, I sing for all that You’ve done for me.”

It’s about daily making choices. We can live with the chaos and negativity and obvious assaults on our peace OR we can treat our peace as the absolute priceless treasure that it is. We can be the peacemaker in the midst of family disagreements. We can walk away from a group that is telling inappropriate jokes and stories. Choices of movies and tv shows we watch, the music we listen to, and the conversations we have with others all determine which side of the camp we’ll be on. Peace or anxiety. Peace or fear. Peace or distress. Peace or anger. Back to that scripture….”Keep practicing those things that are true, honorable, fair, pure, acceptable, commendable, excellent, praiseworthy. THEN, the God of peace will be with you.”

ternity.

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“You are my masterpiece.” -God (read Gen. 1:31; Ps. 139:13–18; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:10)

I recently returned to the place online where I asked the question, “What lies are women tempted to believe about who we are?” As I scrolled back through the answers, I saw all over again how many expressed, “I’m just a mess.” In other words, I can’t possibly be amazing. And yes, none of us are perfect. We “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). But that is only part of our story—and Jesus has already rewritten it.

We reflect the image of God. We are beings with souls. We have hearts full of hopes and desires. God has placed invisible gifts within each of us. And when we give ourselves to Jesus, we are mysteriously created all over again. “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor. 5:17).

We are not a factory-assembled product. “We are God’s masterpiece” (Eph. 2:10).

I once helped facilitate a creative retreat for a group of women. I shared encouragement, and other instructors guided the group in art journaling as a response. Here’s what I learned: those journals were messy, but they were not a mess. They were full of wild loveliness, vivid declarations, and passionate displays of hearts laid open.

In many ways, we are God’s art journal. We are the expression of His love on history’s pages. Is it a neat, practical process? Absolutely not. Just think back over the biblical women we’ve learned about together the past few weeks. So many struggles. So much pain. But also so much strength. So much beauty.

The women at the retreat often offered disclaimers. “It’s not really what I want it to be,” they’d say. “Hers is better than mine,” they’d protest. Some of that came from insecurity, but it also seemed to stem from a fear of being prideful.

Don’t we do the same? Thankfully, David took care of that concern: “I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way” (Ps. 139:14). As I’ve said before, recognizing what’s true about who we are leads to praise, not to pride.

I chose the word amazing for my new devotional because the definition is “causing great wonder.” It’s the response our souls have to the creations of an astonishing artist.

As long as we are in this world, we will encounter lies. They will try to erase our faith and cover our identities. But we have this promise: God who “began a good work within you will continue his work until it is finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns” (Phil. 1:6 NLT).

My prayer is that seeing the truth about who we are and who God is fills us with new wonder and worship–today and for all of eternity.